German digital insurer Wefox said Wednesday it raised $110 million of fresh funding from backers including JPMorgan<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> and Barclays<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n The news marks a vote of confidence for the insurance technology space at a time when it faces tough macroeconomic headwinds.<\/p>\n <\/img><\/p>\n <\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Wefox is a Berlin, Germany-based firm focused on personal insurance products, such as home insurance, motor insurance and personal liability insurance. Rather than underwriting claims itself, the company connects its users with brokers and partner insurance firms through an online platform.<\/p>\n Founded in 2015, it competes with the likes of U.S. digital insurer Lemonade<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> and German firm GetSafe, as well as established insurance incumbents like Allianz<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n Wefox said it raised the fresh funds through a combination of debt financing and fresh equity. Of the $110 million total, $55 million is in the form of a credit facility from banking giants JPMorgan and Barclays. A further of $55 million equity investment was led by Squarepoint Capital, a global investment management firm with $75.7 billion in assets under management.<\/p>\n “It’s a new type of financing for a growth company,” Julian Teicke, Wefox’s CEO and co-founder, told CNBC in an interview. “Risk investors, equity investors, they understand, they want to take risk.”<\/p>\n “Banks typically don’t, so for them it was really important to understand our path towards profitability and the maturity of our business,” he added.<\/p>\n The company said it maintained its $4.5 billion valuation<\/a> from a July funding round \u2014 somewhat rare in today’s market, with many fintechs seeing their valuations slump drastically.<\/p>\n Wefox’s announcement comes as fintech and the technology industry as a whole grapple with a harsher economic environment, finding it more difficult to raise funding.<\/p>\n Higher interest rates have seen investors reevaluate growth-oriented tech businesses, with equity markets \u2014 and fintech in particular \u2014 taking a beating. In the public markets, U.S. firm Lemonade has seen its shares drop 23% in the past 12 months, though the stock is up 13% so far in 2023.<\/p>\n Layoffs have also plagued the fintech space. On Tuesday, money transfer firm Zepz told CNBC it was letting 420 employees<\/a> go, or 16% of its total workforce, in the latest round of redundancies to hit the sector.<\/p>\n The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, too, has darkened the outlook. The tech-focused lender collapsed earlier this year<\/a> after its startup and venture capital clients fled in a panic<\/a> due to capitalization concerns.<\/p>\n Despite the headwinds facing the wider tech industry, Teicke says he believes Wefox is “crisis-resistant.” In the first quarter of 2023, Wefox saw its revenues almost double year-over-year. The company anticipates it will reach profitability by the end of this year.<\/p>\n Teicke also said Wefox hasn’t faced the same pressures to lay off staff. Instead, it has shifted its priorities, he said, “doubling down on things that work and stopping things that don’t make sense.”<\/p>\n For instance, Teicke said Wefox was focusing on its broker partnership model and its so-called “affinity” method of distribution, where it sells its insurance software to other businesses for a subscription fee \u2014 for example, an online car dealer adding car insurance at the point of sale.<\/p>\n The fresh funds will go towards investing in Wefox’s affinity program and technology platform, the company said.<\/p>\nrelated investing news<\/h2>\n